


Alternate Scenario

by OreoLuvr13



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hen is the best and knows all, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, M/M, Post Episode: s3e03 The Searchers, firefam - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2020-12-14 18:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21020171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OreoLuvr13/pseuds/OreoLuvr13
Summary: Complications arise from Buck’s earlier leg injury after the tsunami.OrBuck throws another blood clot after the tsunami, but unlike last time he’s not surrounded by first responders.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just came across 9-1-1 and I have fallen heads over heels in love with Buck, Eddie, and Christopher. And what's a better way of showing your love than with a little hurt.

Buck rolls over and opens his eyes to darkness. It’s still night. He’s tired but the anxiety that weighs him down won’t let him rest. Whenever he closes his eyes, he’s back in the water yelling out for Christopher. Even though his subconscious knows he’s dreaming, that it’s not real, the fear of losing Christopher is. He wakes up grasping for air as he looks around frantically for Christopher, only to see that he’s alone in his room. He looks to his phone. 5:57.

Even though he’s been up for almost an hour since the last nightmare, the panic is still there. Taking residence in his chest.

He closes his eyes willing sleep to come. Eddie is going to be dropping Christopher off in a couple of hours and he’s going to need some rest so that he’s on his A Game. Christopher is too damn perceptive; he’ll notice in a heartbeat that something is bothering Buck. He can’t let Christopher see how much he’s struggling.

Little does Christopher know that Buck losing him in the tsunami is part of the reason behind Buck’s mood as of late. The gut wrenching fear of losing Christopher and letting Eddie down has only worsened the depressive mood that started with his leg injury and its complications that forced Buck to quit the 118. And despite Eddie telling him that he trusts Buck with this son, he still feels like he failed his best friend and Christopher somehow.

Buck inhales deeply. But when he goes to breathe out, he starts coughing and it won’t stop. He tries desperately to take in air, but he can’t. A coppery taste fills his mouth. He rolls over to his side and grabs for his phone frantically. His hands fumble as he grips the cell phone but the wracking coughs causes his body to shake so bad that it falls out of his grasp and onto the floor. Shit. He tries to reach for it but he can’t. All his energy is spent just trying to take a breath in.

Finally the coughing stops not because he’s okay but because his body no longer has the strength to keep fighting. As black dots take over his vision, Buck can’t help but think how sucky his luck is. He survives a latter truck falling on him and a tsunami, only to die in his own apartment.

His last conscious thought is of Eddie and Christopher. It’ll be them who finds him. _Please don’t hate me._

**XXXXX**

“Buck!” Eddie calls out as he enters his friend’s apartment with Chris in tow. “Listen, I know I’m early but I have to do some errands before my shift. I texted you to say that I was dropping Christopher off, but you didn’t answer.”

Eddie looks around the empty apartment. Buck’s nowhere to be found. He must still be sleeping upstairs. One, it’s just before seven and Buck is never up this early if he doesn’t have to be. Two, Buck is still not leaving the apartment for much even with Eddie using him as a baby-sitter. He’s pretty sure that the only time Buck is out of his apartment is when he’s doing stuff with Christopher.

“Here you go,” Eddie says as he settles his son on the couch. He takes off his son’s glasses and places them on the coffee table. Christopher instantly curls up under the blanket, already well on his way to falling back asleep. He was not too happy with Eddie when he woke him up earlier than usual, even though it was to bring Christopher to Buck’s.

“Is Buck still asleep?” Christopher asks around a yawn.

Eddie smiles. “I think so Buddy.”

Christopher pops one eye open and grins. “Can I wake him up?”

He would normally jump at the chance to mess with his best friend, but he’s not too sure what mood Buck will be in when he wakes him up. Buck’s been great with Christopher, but he’s still a little standoffish with everyone else. Thinking about Buck’s sour mood when he dropped off Christopher the morning of the tsunami, he doesn’t know if he’s going to get a repeat performance. He doesn’t want to take the chance. Eddie tussles his son’s hair. “Not this time, bud.”

“Okay,” Christopher sighs sleepily into his pillow.

Eddie kisses his son on the forehead before he heads up the stairs. He trudges up them, weary of what mood he’s going to find Buck in. Buck is still in bed, tangled up in his sheets. Deciding to take the tough love approach, “Yo! Buck! Get your ass up.”

Buck doesn’t move. Eddie gets closer. “I swear talking to you is like talking to a brick wall. You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself. Christopher and I…”

But everything else that Eddie is about to say flies out the window when he pulls back Buck’s sheets. He’s scarily pale. There’s no color in his face except for the dried blood around his mouth and a blue tint to his lips.

“Buck! Talk to me Buck!” Eddie yells falling to his friend’s side. He picks up his friend’s limp wrist, finding a weak pulse while also noting the blue tint of his friend’s fingernails. “Shit! Shit! You must’ve blown another clot! Buck! Buck you with me?!”

“Daddy!” A scared Christopher calls out. “What’s wrong with Buck?”

Fuck. He can’t lose his shit now. Not with Christopher downstairs with a barely breathing Buck in front of him. “It’s okay, bud. Buck’s not feeling too good right now. I’m going to call for help to make him better. Can you do me a big favor and stay on the couch?” The last thing that his son who has seen too much at this young age needs to see is one of his favorite people lying this still, this hurt.

“Is Buck going to be okay?” Christopher asks. Eddie doesn’t need to see his son to know he’s scared. He can hear it in his child’s voice.

Eddie looks at Buck. He wishes that he can tell his son that Buck is going to be okay. But that might mean lying. Buck looks like his condition has only deteriorated since Eddie first found him. His lips bluer than pink. Breaths barely passing his parted lips. His pulse weaker and slower.

“Daddy?!” Christopher calls again. More desperate this time.

“He’s going to okay, bud.” Eddie leans closer to Buck and whispers. “Don’t make me a damn liar, Buck.”

With one hand firmly wrapped around his partner’s wrist, needing the reassurance that Buck is still with him, Eddie takes his cell phone out of his pocket with his other hand and calls 911. It feels like forever, Buck’s breaths coming slower and slower before a dispatcher finally picks up. “Yes! I have an emergency.”


	2. Diagnosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The firefam gets news about Buck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. Enjoy!

Eddie lets out a loud sigh as he leans his head back against the wall. It’s not even eight in the morning but it already feels like one of the longest days in a long line of long days. It’s been a little less than an hour since Buck was rushed to the ER. But to Eddie it feels like it’s been so much longer.

Luckily, it took the paramedics less than ten minutes to get to Buck’s apartment after Eddie’s call to 9-1-1. Every minute without medical attention was critical with someone in Buck’s condition.

He wanted to but he couldn’t ride in the ambulance with his partner. Not when he had Chris with him. So he packed his son up and put him in the car as they followed the ambulance to the hospital. looking back it seems that not being able to ride with Buck was a blessing in disguise. The paramedics needed room to work and he just would have been in the way. Even worse, Eddie probably would have been second guessing every call the paramedics made. No paramedic wants that.

The car ride to the hospital allowed Eddie to get his emotions in check before he had to face Maddie and the rest of the 118. Seeing Buck like that, so pale, so still is something that was so unnatural. Something that Eddie never needs to see again.

Eddie didn’t only have to reel in his own emotions but he also had to reassure Christopher that Buck was going to be okay. Even as Eddie feared the worse. He made sure that his son didn’t see his partner being wheeled out of his apartment but Christopher still knew something was very wrong with his Buck. As he sped to the hospital, Christopher asked one question after another.

“Is Buck going to be okay?”

God, he better be.

“He’ll be fine, Christopher.”

“What happened?”

Eddie is pretty sure he knows what happened. But how do you explain blood clots and pulmonary embolisms to an eight year old.

“He’s hurt his lung.”

“Why do bad things keep happening to Buck?

He wishes he knew why. Eddie may get on Buck about feeling sorry for himself but there’s no denying that Buck has had to deal with one awful thing after another over the last six months. He prays that Buck is not at the end of his rope. That he’s not ready to give up.

“I know it feels that way, but Buck will get through this and be back playing with you in no time.”

Christopher’s head nods in agreement. “He will be. He promised me that he will take me to the movies.”

“He will,” Eddie replies. Hoping he sounds believable.

Once they got to the hospital, Eddie called Carla to come pick up Christopher. Luckily, she was nearby. His son was not happy about leaving the hospital without seeing Buck first. It took a promise of icecream on Carla’s part and Eddie promising that he will be able to see Buck once the doctor gave the okay.

With his son with Carla, Eddie is alone in the hospital’s waiting room with only his thoughts. All the thoughts that he pushed on the backburner as he comforted and reassured Chris are back with a vengeance as they play on repeat. Buck lying unresponsive in bed with blue lips, barely breathing. He didn’t even respond when the first paramedic rubbed his sternum roughly. How long was Buck lying there like that? Will the hypoxia have a lasting effect?

“Eddie!” Maddie calls out as she rushes into the waiting room with Chimney. “What happened?”

Eddie stands up. “I don’t know for sure but I think he threw another clot. When I went to drop Christopher off, he was unconscious and hypoxic.”

“Another clot?” Maddie says wrapping her arms around herself. “I thought his meds were working.”

“Guys! What’s going on?”

They all turn to see Hen and Bobby walking towards them.

“I found Buck unconscious at his apartment.”

“Another clot?” Bobby asks.

“Looks that way,” Chim answers.

“I thought the meds were working,” Hen says.

“We all did,” Maddie says quietly. Chim pulls her closer. She turns to Eddie. “Thank god you went to his apartment. Who knows how long he was like that before you found him. If he was hypoxic, who knows what damaged that caused.”

Eddie feels his heart sped up. Maddie just said what he’s been fearing.

“Hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Bobby says. “Let’s hear what the doctors have to say before we go head first into worst case scenarios.”

“Yeah, I’m with the captain.” Chim says. “This is Buck. Maddie, you of all people know better than to underestimate him.”

Maddie shakily nods her head. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Eddie isn’t as easily swayed. They weren’t there. They didn’t see Buck, The blue lips, but he did.

Luckily, they don’t have to wait long for news. Dr. Henderson soon comes out to the waiting room.

“Doctor?” Maddie asks. “What’s going on with my brother?”

“He’s still unconscious but he’s stable.”

“He was hypoxic when he was brought in,” Eddie says.

The doctor nods. “He was but his oxygen levels are improving, And although he is still unconscious, all tests that we have conducted so far indicates the hypoxia having no permanent effects.”

“Thank god,” Maddie says.

“See?” Chim says to Maddie. “I told you not to underestimate Buck.”

“So what happened?” Bobby asks.

“It looks like he had another pulmonary embolism,” The doctor says. “I know he’s been treated for one a few weeks ago and is currently taking anticoagulants to treat two other clots. We ran some tests when he was brought it. They show that he has developed two more clots in his leg.”

“Two more?” Eddie asks. “How did this happen? Wasn’t he taking his meds?”

“Eddie,” Bobby warns looking towards Maddie.

“What, cap? We all know how’s he been lately. Not taking care of himself. You know how he doesn’t think things through. Regardless of the consequences. What if he said fuck the meds when he decided to quit?” Eddie says in a huff.

Maddie shakes her head. “No, no. He wouldn’t do that. Buck can be impulsive and self-destructive at times but he’s been doing better. He knows what could happen if he doesn’t.”

The doctor holds his hands up. “Let me stop you guys for a second. Mr. Buckley was taking his medications as prescribed. We ran his blood and the anticoagulants he was prescribed are present in his bloodstream.”

“So if he was taking his meds then how did this happen?” Hen asks.

“Wait, dehydration can increase the risk for developing clots, right?” Chim asks.

The doctor nods. “And extreme physical exertion.”

“Like running around saving people after a tsunami,” Chim says.

Shit. Of course, the tsunami. Images of a bloody and exhausted Buck falling into the arms of Bobby, Hen, and Chim comes back to Eddie. 

“We are working on trying to determine the cause of the clots, but the immediate concern right now is treating them. He already had two pulmonary embolisms and I don’t want to take the risk of him having a third.”

“How do you want to proceed with treatment?” Bobby asks. “Change his medications?”

Dr. Henderson shakes his head. “It appears that administering the anticoagulants orally is not working, so we want to try another option. I want to try the catheter-directed thrombolysis approach,” the physician says.

“What’s throm-boly-sis,” Chim asks.

“We make a small incision in Evan’s leg and insert a small catheter that will deliver the anticoagulant medication directly to the clots,” The doctor explains. “it’s more invasive that oral medications but I think we will have much better results.”

Maddie nods. “Do what you think is best.”

The doctor nods. “Okay, I’m going to schedule the procedure for later today. In the mean time you can go up and see him.” The doctor excuse himself leaving Maddie and the other members of the 118 in the waiting room.

Eddie wants to see Buck. He needs to see him. But Maddie is his sister so he decides to hang back with Hen as Maddie and Chim head upstairs. It’s just him and Hen when Bobby excuses himself to go call Athena to update her on Buck’s condition.

“Hey, you okay?” Hen asks.

Eddie shrugs. “Yeah, of course. I mean this isn’t the first time I’ve seen someone I know hurt.”

His time in the military. Shannon.

Hen gives him her best “don’t bullshit me” look. “Yeah but this is different.”

He looks at her. “How so?”

She rolls her eyes. “Simple, this is Buck.”

And with that, Eddie is back at Buck’s apartment. Buck lying unconscious and unresponsive with bloodied and blue lips as Eddie went off on him about feeling sorry for himself.

“He was in bed when I got there. I was so pissed that he was still feeling sorry for himself. I was so pissed. Like how can he still feel sorry for himself after everything he saw with the tsunami. The destruction. All the people who died. Then I saw him. Hen, he was so still. He was barely breathing. I thought he was going to die.”

Hen grabs Eddie’s hand. “But, he didn’t. You got him here and now he’s getting the treatment he needs. I know I give Buck a lot of crap. But he’s a fighter. He’s not going to give up.”

Eddie rubs the bottom of his eyes. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am,” Hen says with a smile. She pats Eddie’s hand. “Come on now, let’s go see your boy.”


End file.
